Separator



Jan. 3, 1939. DQTTO SEPARATOVR F iled June 21, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I E/WtfE VTOF? ATTQR/VEY J.' DOTTO SEPARATOR Jan. 3, 1939.

Filed June 21, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet .2

I I/VVEWTD}? A wv'o PMEM Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEPARATOR James Dotto, San Jose, Calif.

Application June 21, 1937, Serial No. 149,329

4 Claims. (01. 209--112) The present invention relates particularly to device is so positioned relative to th b lt 5 a d means for separating foreign material such as lip 9 that when rotated upwardly with respect clods of earth from food products, such as prunes thereto until one of the cross-plates I2 aligns and nuts, when a mixture of the two is gathered with the top surface of the belt support the lip will 5 from t ground fall flat upon the cross-plate and material may 5 It is one object of the present invention to proflow freely into the pocket presented. When the vide means for separating fleshy fruits such as device is rotated to bring the next pocket into prunes from foreign material picked up therewith use the lip will cover the succeeding elongated without puncturing the skins of the fruit or passage therein and slide over the shield until 10 otherwise mutilating or injuring the same. the next passage is reached, the shield and lip 10 It is another object of the invention to provide cooperating to prevent m v m t of material off means that will accurately and efficiently separate of the side of the belt until the desired passage is rounded bodies, such as fresh prunes, from all reached. If the material is discharged on to the other material having a surface conformation belt at one end as at I8 then these parts cooperate such as to interfere with its free rolling. with the moving belt to distribute the material 15.

It is also an object of the invention to provide lengthwise of the lip ready for discharge into a means of the character indicated that will be pocket in the transfer device. economical to manufacture, simple in form and Upon each end of the shaft carrying the transconstruction, strong, durable, positive in operafer device I2 is mounted a four-point star wheel tion, and highly efficient in its practical applicaas I9 by means of which the device is rotated a 20 ti one-quarter turn at desired intervals to bring the In t drawings; passages I I, I'll), I'Id and I1) successively into Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a maoperative receiving position. chine embodying my ti At 20 is shown a trap-door lying substantially Figure 2 is a detail elevation of a portion of in the plane of the belt 5 and mounted on a 25 the driving mechanism of the machine. transverse shaft ZI near its upper end. The shaft Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of 2I is journaled in bearings 22 on frame I and ex- Figure 1 with parts broken away. tends beyond the sides of the frame at each end Figure 4 is a perspective view of a portion of to terminate in upwardly extending arms 23. the transferring device. The door is resiliently supported in the position 30 Figure 5 is a perspective View of a portion of described by means of a spring 24 connected one of the retarding elements and its mounting. thereto and to the frame as shown.

The supporting framework of the structure is In the present instance three other doors are indicated generally by the reference character I, mounted in the plane of the first door 29, and in the top rails on the side being disposed at an the same manner as indicated at 25, 26, 21, 28, 35

angle to a horizontal plane as shown at 2. 29; 38, El, 32, 33, 34; and 35, 3E, 31, 38, 39.

Disposed on the upper end of the frame I A hopper 4B is provided below the lower edge through the medium of bearings 3 and rollers 4, of the lowermost door 35. is a. travelling belt 5. This belt is moved in the On each side of the frame I are mounted updirection indicated by arrow 6, and is inclined standing brackets as 4| in which are journaled 46 laterally to lie in a plane parallel with the plane shafts as at 42 and. 43 carrying sprocket wheels of the top of the frame whereby material will roll as 4445. On each pair of sprockets is mounted off of the same in the direction indicated by arrow a drive chain 46, and on each chain are mounted I. The supporting platform 8 underlying the spaced fingers as 47 adapted to engage the star belt is provided with a flexible lip at 9 overhangwheel and rotate it a one-quarter turn.

ing its lower edge. Mounted upon the chain 65 are other laterally At III is shown atransfer device paralleling the directed and spaced fingers as 48 adapted to lower edge of the belt and journaled on the frame engage arms 23, 28, 33 and 38 in succession. at I I. This device is formed of crossed plates I2 These fingers are placed substantially midway b 56 and I3 forming pockets I4, Ma, Mb, I4c closed twee the finge s so that the top door 20 is 50 at the ends as at I5. Extending lengthwise over swung open while the transfer device is being each pocket is a shield as at I6, IBa, I61), I60, each turned. side edge of the shield being spaced from the At 49 are shown a number of spaced plates adjacent cross-plate to form the elongated pasmounted on the two chains 45 at their opposite sages N, Na, I11), I10, "(1, lie, I1 I19. This ends as at 50. These plates extend the full 55 length of the doors and of course pass over them in the direction indicated by arrow 5|, their lower edges passing close to the doors, or sliding over them. The plates 49 are spaced as the fingers 41 but somewhat in advance of them as shown.

The sprocket 45 is rotated by means of a gear 52, on shaft 42 which meshes with a pinion 53 on shaft 54, the shaft 54 being driven by any suitable means not shown. There is also a gear drive 55 between the shaft 54 and roller 4 whereby the belt may be operated continuously with the other mechanism.

When the machine is in operation a mixture of prunes, say, and clods of earth, dirt and other foreign matter is flowed on to the belt from the chute IS, the round prunes rolling down to the transfer device and a large percentage of the foreign material being carried along by the belt and discharged over its outer end.

When the transfer device is rotated a quarter turn as above described all of the material collected in a pocket is discharged upon the top trap-door 20. If any material does not leave the pocket it is discharged to the ground upon the next rotative movement of the device.

Immediately before the material is discharged upon the door 20 one of the plates 49 reaches a point thereover and slows down the movement of the flowing material so that earth clods and almost all of the material that is not as round as the prunes will find a hat side and stop. But as the plate moves on the prunes and some of the rounder debris will follow it until it reaches the next succeeding door 25. When this point is reached a finger 48 engages the arm 23 of door 20 and swings it down into the position 20a, thereby dumping all of the material thereon to the ground, the spring 24 returning the door to its original position as soon. as the finger 48 has passed over arm 23.

The above described steps are repeated on doors 25, 30 and 35 with the result that all of the foreign matter is removed by the time the prunes roll off of the last door into the hopper 48.

It is to be understood of course, that while I have herein shown and described but one specific embodiment of my invention, changes in form, construction, and method of assembly and operation may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A separator of the character indicated comprising, an inclined tiltable plate and tilting means therefor, travelling retarding means mounted to move on the plate and disposed to retard the rolling movement of material deposited thereon whereby other than freely rolling objects may be brought to rest on the plate, a movable mounting for the retarding means and plate tilting means, the tilting means being disposed at a spaced interval behind the retarding means, and means operable to return the plate to its original position.

2. A separator of the character described comprising, an inclined tiltable plate and tilting means therefor, travelling retarding means mounted to move over the plate and disposed to retard the rolling movement of material deposited thereon whereby other than freely rolling objects may be brought to rest on the plate, material feeding means, a transfer device inserted between the feeding means and plate and having pockets formed therein disposed to register alternately with the feeding means and plate to alternately receive material from the feeding means and discharge on to said plate, actuating means for the transfer device, a movable mounting for the retarding means, plate tilting means, and transfer actuating means, the transfer actuating means being disposed at a spaced interval behind the retarding means, and the plate tilting means being disposed at a spaced interval behind the transfer actuating means, and means operable to return the plate to its original position.

3. In a separator of the character described, the combination of 'a laterally inclined supporting platform, a travelling belt operable over the platform in parallel relation to its lower edge and adjacent thereto, a rotatable cylindrical member disposed adjacent the belt with its axis in parallel relation to the lower edge of the belt and having radially arranged plates disposed longitudinally therein to extend from its axis to its periphery to form pockets, a segmental shield member disposed over each pocket with its longer edges spaced from the adjacent plates to form intervening passages, an overhanging flexible lip member mounted on the lower edge of the platform and underlying the belt to slidably engage the shields and register with alternate passages to introduce material therethrough, and material receiving means mounted adjacent the cylinder on the side opposite the lip to register with other alternate passages to receive material therefrom.

4. A separator for separating freely rolling material from non-rolling material in a mixture of the two types of material comprising, feeding means for the mixture of material, a pair of aligned inclined tiltable plates adjacent the feed ing means to receive the mixture, the inclination of said plates being such that the nonrollingmaterial will be retained on the plates and the freely rolling material will tend to pass downwardy over the plates, travelling retarding means mounted over the plates and moving thereover in a downward direction at such a speed that the material fed to the inclined plates will be retarded in its natural movement, uniformly movable means mounting the retarding means to produce a constant movement of said retarding means, tiltable means for said tiltable plates mounted on said movable mounting means and positioned at spaced intervals behind said retarding means and operable to tilt the uppermost plate of the pair when the retarding means overlies the lowermost plate of the pair to thus discharge the non-rolling material and means- 

